Reporting by David Robinson, New York State Team/Rockland-Westchester Journal News
Home heating oil prices in New York are spiking as the key winter heating fuel reached record-high prices across the country amid the nation’s war with Iran, according to state data and federal officials.
With nearly one-in-five homes statewide using heating oil, rising costs for the fuel are key to politically charged fights over measures aimed at shifting more buildings and homes to electric heat, as well as efforts to expand clean energy initiatives.
Democrats in Congress recently spotlighted the connection between the Trump administration’s ongoing commitment to the Iran war and rising heating oil costs that are straining families — particularly in the Northeast, where more households rely upon the fuel, according to a statement by the Joint Economic Committee.
How much have home heating oil prices increased in NY?
The weekly home heating oil price per gallon spiked about 67% on average year-over-year statewide, with some regions facing even higher increases, including Central New York and the North Country that leaped nearly 78% and 76%, respectively, according to a USA TODAY Network analysis of state data released on Oct. 26.
At the same time, the weekly heating oil prices spiked from the late summer into fall, leaping about 19% between Aug. 10 and Sept. 21, landing at a statewide average of $6.27 per gallon, the data show.
Heating oil is used by 19% of New York households (1.4 million homes). It is most commonly used on the east side of the state including high use rates in the North Country and the Adirondacks. But it is also common in the Hudson Valley and on Long Island, according to a report by the Empire Center, a fiscally conservative Albany-based think tank.
In the Lower Hudson Valley, which state data tracks across Westchester, Rockland, Putnam and Dutchess counties, the home heating oil price per gallon of $6.40 on Oct. 26 was up about 18% from Aug. 10.
In Western New York, home heating oil prices faced a spike in late summer into fall, reaching $6.56 per gallon on Oct. 26, up about 33% from $4.94 on Aug. 10.
Central New York — which state data tracks across the counties of Broome, Cayuga, Chenango, Cortland, Delaware, Herkimer, Madison, Oneida, Onondaga, Oswego, Otsego, Tioga, and Tompkins — had its weekly home heating oil price per gallon ($6.32) at slightly below the statewide average ($6.37) as of Oct. 26.
“President Trump’s reckless war with Iran has led home heating costs to spike for families across the Northeast,” said U.S. Senator Maggie Hassan, D-NH, ranking member of the Joint Economic Committee said in a statement o Oct. 15. “With cold weather approaching, families are already under pressure from higher prices for everyday necessities, and now they face even more expensive heating costs.”
Includes data analysis by Erik Gliedman of USA Today Network.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News.
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